Questa announces itself as a working town, not a tourist one. Sitting at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico, it has a small plaza, an adobe church, a few cafes, a gas station, and the feeling of a place that has long been busy with other things. That is one of its charms. On the Enchanted Circle, which loops around Wheeler Peak through Taos, Questa, Red River, Eagle Nest, and Angel Fire, this is the community that has not been polished for visitors, and so it is a good place to eat a plain, honest meal and top up the tank.
The name is Spanish for slope, and the land really does tilt: the town stands above the Red River valley with the high peaks rising behind. The first Hispano settlers came here in the nineteenth century to farm and graze, and the old church of San Antonio de Padua still anchors the village. The molybdenum mine up the valley was for decades the main employer, and its presence has shaped both the economy and the landscape. These days the surrounding country has been recognised as part of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, a high, wide, wild stretch of river gorge and volcanic plateau.
Riding out of Questa toward Red River is where the loop earns its name. The road follows the canyon up through aspens and pines, climbing steadily past Bobcat Pass to a little under ten thousand feet, with long, flowing curves rather than tight hairpins. The surface is generally good. Traffic is light on weekdays and heavier on summer weekends. The weather matters more than the corners: afternoon thunderstorms are common in summer, and snow can close or slow the high sections in winter and spring.
Practical matters are easy here. Questa has fuel and a handful of places for lunch, and Taos, about thirty kilometres south, is the larger town for anything more. Come in autumn if you can, when the aspens turn and the air has a snap to it. The quiet in the evening is real, with a smell of woodsmoke and piñon, and the stars arrive in numbers that remind you how far you are from a city.